May 2010 - Marist Clubs and Organizations

GENERATOR
magazine
Top 10 Dr. Murray Myths
Interviews with Musical Artists
The Culture of the Sneeze
May 2010
GENERATOR STAFF Table of Contents
Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor:
Mike Walsh
Sarah Holmes
FEATURE
Page 15: Springtime at Marist: A picture
collage of photos contributed by Amy Wheeler
Page 28: The Culture of the Sneeze: A humorous look at why we all are so quick with the
gesundheits... By Sarah Lamond
Music Editor:
Nicholas Palumbo
Literature Editor:
Gina Rose Sirico
Movies Editor:
Justine Mann
Arts Editor:
Storm Heitman
Opinion Editor: Fashion Editor:
Mary Treuer
Christine Urgola
Page 21: “I’m No Role Model” Who should today’s youths really be looking up to? The answer
may surprise you... By Mike Walsh
Back Cover: Top Ten Dr. Murray Myths:
You’ve all heard the stories around campus.
We’ve gathered the top ten stories and myths
floating around campus about our beloved President, Dr. Dennis J. Murray... By Generator Staff
MOVIES
Page 17: Desperately Seeking Action Heroine:
What is the deal with all these dainty new superhero love interests? What happened to the girls
that could bring the fight as much as the boys?...
By Justine Mann
Page 18: Lost: The Greatest Show in Television
History? Cresci brings you a multitude of reasons
why your news feed blows up after every new
episode airs... By Michael Cresci
Photography
Editor:
Sarah Dubrule
Faculty Advisor:
Dr. Richard Grinnell
1
Page 29: Confessions of a Burn Out: How I
Wasted Two Semesters Smoking Weed: Sick of
watching your friends outside running around and
enjoying life? Then get outside and get off that
bong... By Anonymous
Cover Photo by
Doug townsend
LITERATURE
Page 3: Slamming With
the Stars: Finally, a one
episode reality show, the
2010 LAS Poetry Slam...
By Sarah Holmes
Page 4: Nick Orsini:
Two Wrongs Make a
Book: This 2008 Alumnus has avoided the job
market by self publishing
his own novel ... By Nicholas Palumbo
Page 5: Writers of Many Genres: Marist has
been lucky enough to host these five amazing
writers and have them perform for and work with
students... By Sarah Holmes
ARTS
Page 19: Looking at Mental Disabilities
Through New Lenses: The Girls Next Door:
MCCTA’s spring play was an adaptation of The
Boys Next Door and takes a different look at mental illness through new eyes... By Mary Treuer
Page 20: Marist Dancers Pump Up The Volume: The 2010 Dance show exhibited many
Marist choreographers and dancers busting moves
to a variety of music styles... By Emily Bales
FASHION
Page 22: Cappity Cap, Don’t Look Back: Our
lovely Fashion Editor’s farewell to Fashion Capping and the Generator’s Fashion section... By
Christine Urgola
Page 23: Riccardo Tisci: Pioneering a New Era
in Fashion: Designer of Givechy, Riccardo Tisci
is breaking through barriers in men’s fashion... By
Nicholas Sera-Leyva
Page 25: Most Stylish Student: Danielle
Evangelista: Meet Danielle, a freshman from
Hawaii who’s fashion sense is fun and unique to
say the least... By Rachel Forlifer
Page 26: Going out in Style: Gradiation
Fashion Statements: Be unique underneath
your generic cap and gown, but be careful!... By
Christine Urgola
MUSIC
Page 7: Totally Bamboozled: Couldn’t make it
to Jersey for the Bamboozled Festival, check out
this review including an interview with one of the
headliners... By Eden Jezierski
Page 9: Review of a Diverse Open Mic Night:
The Sustainability Open Mic Night brought out
some of top entertainers Marist has to offer... By
Monica Speranza
Page 11: Lights: An Intergallactic Superstar in
the Making: Interview and review of Canadian
electropop sensation Lights on tour with Owl
City... By Eden Jezierski
Page 13: I Was There: Third Eye Blind at
Marist College: Review of the three performances at last weekend’s Spring Concert on the Riverfront... By Olivia McMahon
Page 14: Echo and the Bunnymen: Do it in the
Dark and They Do it Well: Review of the post
punk ‘80s band’s performance in Fairfield, CT...
By Justine Mann
OPINION
Page 27: Rediscovering the “Wheel”: US Passes
Healthcare Reform: After venting for months,
Tommy finally reads and attempts to make sense
of Obama’s new bill.. By Tommy Straub
2
Slamming with the Stars
LAS
President,
Florencia
Lauria,
and Vice
President,
Amanda
Mulvihill,
play with
fake TVs
Amy
Wheeler
By Sarah Holmes
Slamming with the Stars, the new
reality show that aired one time only in
the Cabaret on April 22, featured Marist
College students being loud, emotional,
and opinionated.
“So You Think You Can Rhyme?”
black t-shirts asked students around Marist
campus the days following up to the event.
The shirt method was one of the main ways
of advertising the annual Poetry Slam
hosted by the Literary Arts Society. It was
just also one of many references to reality
TV shows, the theme of this year’s slam.
One poster for the event had LAS members
bundled up in winter clothing posing as
The Jersey Shore while others advertised
America’s Next Top Poet.
The theme continued beyond the
advertisement, incorporating elements
from popular reality shows into the
program. There was even a confessions
booth where people could write down what
they wanted the poets to write about.
Gabby Albino, 2009 Poetry Slam
Champion, hosted with fellow HuMarist
Mike Vogel. Eleven contestants performed
with high energy and attitude in the first the
first round of the Slam, Project Rhymeway.
Katie Black performed “Vague Imitation
of a Frank O’Hara Poem”; Chris Prozora
delivered a somewhat frightening act for
3
Yeselah Haseley slams a poem Amy Wheeler
“Do You Know Where Your Demons
Are?”; Ariel Puccio pushed out her shirt
with her hand to appear pregnant for “20
and Bearing Reality”; Heather Staats
grossed us out about food with “Growth”;
Lauren Hall read a poem in memory of
a high school teacher; Olivia McMahon
performed “Have to Drive”; Maxine
Presto made us hungry again with animal
crackers until she related them to us in “We,
the animals”; Michelle DelBove made the
audience laugh with “Social Criticisms by
a Self-Proclaimed Weird College Girl”;
Chris Cho performed “Time”; Kelly
Mangerino performed “Impossible Truth”;
and Amanda Mulvihill related to audience
with her “Tangential Explanation of
Tardiness.”
Dr. Moira Fitzgibbons, Dr. Donald
Anderson, and Jessica Friedlander, a
Marist alumna, were the three judges
who would decide the top five based on
creativity, performance, and audience
connection. During their deliberation,
next semester’s LAS PR officer. Yelesah
Haseley, read a piece by another poet with
a voice that commanded the attention
of the entire room. Following her noncompetition performance, there was a tearfree Rose Ceremony in which Mulvihill,
Puccio, DelBove, McMahon, and Presto
were selected for the second round. For this
round they would create an original poem
and perform it.
They didn’t go at it alone, however, as
five suggestions were pulled from those
written in the confessional. The ones that
got picked included, “she stole my shoes,”
“Voldemorti my roommate” and “this shit
just got real.” The top five left the cabaret
and the audience got to participate in Who
Wants to be a Poet-aire?
For this interactive word game, student
volunteers formed two teams. It took a while
to explain the rules but this is pretty much
how it went: one team member started with
a rhyme ending with a common, rhymeable name like “Nick” and then the other
team’s leader had to start a sentence and the
rest of the team had to end with a word that
rhymed with the name. Confused? Well,
once it got going it made sense, just think of
a Beastie Boys songs, Albino kept saying.
The teams battled for about fifteen minutes,
alternating leaders once the team lost. The
winning team was awarded prizes.
After the audience participation, the
slammers returned with their new, neverbefore-seen (or heard) poems to participate
in Extreme Makeover: Poem Edition.
These poems were more light-hearted and
significantly shorter than the first round
but it was amazing to hear what they could
come up within a short period of time.
Finally it came time for the Tribal
Council where the judges awarded the
first, second, and third prize winners of
the slam. During this second deliberation,
LAS President Florencia Lauria performed
another non-competition slam poem on the
pressure of expectations.
DelBove’s performance earned her first
place, Mulvihill was awarded second and
Presto third. Although there were only three
winners, all the slammers, competetive and
noncompetitive alike, showed that there is a
lot more to poems than what is on the page.
One can only hope for as great a turn-out
and performances for Poetry Slam 2011.
The event was sponsored by many local
restaurants. You can catch reruns of this
one-episode reality TV show on MCTV.
Nick Orsini:
Two Wrongs Make A Book
By Nicholas Palumbo
Member of Marist’s Class of 2008
Self-Publishes Debut Novel
You won’t find Nicholas Orsini, a recent graduate
of Marist College, working as a barista or stocking
shelves. Despite the horrific state of the economy and
the inevitable fate of college graduates everywhere,
Nick Orsini has written and self-published a book.
The Radio/TV/Film student has always had a
knack for thinking outside the box – clearly evident in
his first book entitled Two Wrongs Make A Vice. The
book is an ode to his early teenage years while painting vivid images using colorful language and modern
slang. Through the book, we see an open-minded
protagonist that is caught in very common teenage
situations while analyzing his every move using a
very in-depth form of contemplation. The book’s most
striking characteristic is its emphasis on the impact
music makes to his teenage and post-collegiate years.
I recently sat down with Orsini and we discussed
details about Two Wrongs Make a Vice and the writing
process.
Generator Magazine (GM): “How did you come
up with the title of the book?”
Nick Orsini (NO): “The title of the book was found
on Facebook extremely late one night. Someone posted an album of pictures with this really long title that
began, “Two wrongs make a vice...” I’ll just give the
credit for the book’s title to social networking in general. This entire novel is meant to have a generational
feel to it, and to start it off with a Facebook reference
just seemed to capture that.”
GM: “What audience are you trying to inspire
with this book?”
NO: “I wrote this book with a 15-20 year old audience in mind. My editor and I reworked the book
countless times to get the tone right. We wanted
something with substance that wasn’t a chore to read.
I wanted to write a book for people who don’t like to
read. I looked at the lengths of my favorite novels and
realized that they weren’t these gigantic sweeping epics, but rather compact and insightful works that pride
Nick Orsini (above) showcasing a
stack of books. Photo by Nicholas
Orsini
themselves on the careful and right combinations of
words.”
GM: “The chapters in the book are mix-tape
track names. How did you come up with the tracks
of each song/chapter?”
NO: “I put out a call via Twitter and Facebook for
people to just send me the most random sentences they
could. I got over 200 responses and used my favorite
ones as the chapters in the book. Some of them were
written by my friends, some were written by strangers.
It plays off this lofty idea that your song title needs to
have nothing to do with the message of your song.”
GM: “How long did it take to write?”
NO: “I began the book in May of 2008 and finished
the rough draft in December of 2009. It went through
five rounds of editing. The original manuscript was
250,000 words. The final manuscript is about 80,000
words.”
For full interview, visit GENERATOR.BLOGSPOT.
COM
Want a copy of Two Wrongs Make A Vice? Generator Magazine is giving away one copy of the first edition to go to print. If interested, Direct Message us via
Twitter at @GeneratorMag with your name and phone
number.
4
Writers of Many Genres
By Sarah Holmes
Slam poetry, nonfiction,
poetry, and flash fiction,
writers from all these
genres have made their
appearances at Marist
College for workshops,
readings, and performances
that provided entertainment
and proof of the power and
worth of writing.
Carlos Andrés
Gómez
5
The dreamy, blue-eyed
Latino who puts power to
words, wooed the women
and impressed the men
present in the PAR on
March 24. He was once a
social worker and public
school teacher and now
has won various awards
for his slam poetry and Carlos Andrés Gomez poses with the Literary Arts Society Photo by Amy Wheeler
such as “go tell a guy he’s beautiful” message was. She gave a glimpse into
performed at 150 colleges
and universities. He can also be found since they don’t hear it ever and “make the past when blue-collared jobs were the
acting alongside Denzel Washington in your life an 11”, not just a 10 or lower. norm and recognized backbone of society.
After his performance he stayed to sell She may not have realized it when she was
Inside Man.
Artists who read their poetry in more than copies of his books and CDs and graciously younger, but she realized fully once aboard
that read-aloud-in-class voice by making spoke with those who waited in line to the fireboat, that she was incredibly proud
their tone, rhythm, and body movements a shake his hand and take pictures with him. of her dad who was a car mechanic. These
www.carloslive.com
people have skills that the rest of society
part of the poem is what slam poetry is all
needs in order to function.
about. Most times these poems comment
DuLong was able to answer specific
on politics or society, and Gómez was no Jessica DuLong
questions
and interact with students and
exception. As with most slam poets I have
staff,
asking
those present their majors and
come across, he does not come across as
She used to work at a dot-com job; now
what
they
wanted
to do with life. Discussion
preachy or pushy. He is telling a story with she works in the belly of a fireboat along
on
the
lack
of
emphasis on hands-on
emotion and making the audience think.
the Hudson River, chronicling its history
experiences
at
the
high school level was
Most of his poetry related to his previous when she isn’t working the diesel engines.
brought
up.
The
normal
viewpoint is that
work as a social worker and public school Jessica DuLong not only discovered a
we
follow
the
academic
path that seems
teacher. He told the audience about the more fulfilling career path for herself, she
while
the
technological
path
and programs
background to each poem. They were rediscovered the history along the river that
such
as
BOCES
are
thought
of
as paths for
small stories with lasting impressions, is her workplace.
those
who
aren’t
going
to
make
it far in life.
especially the one where at an assembly a
“The more time she spends on the
DuLong
saw
this
as
a
poor
outlook,
that
girl asked him what genocide was. He was Hudson River…running the boat’s finely
both
paths
should
support
each
other
and
amazed at all that the children he worked crafted machinery, the more she wonders
be
available
to
all.
with knew but that they did not know the what America is losing in our shift away
Beyond her powerful ideas and themes
word genocide or that it was occurring from hands-on work,” the postcard at
the
language in the passages from the book
right then.
her reading on March 31st at the Cornell
she
wrote about her life on an old fireboat
Although his stories were grave and Boathouse. She emphasized this point
was
amazing to hear, and excerpts can be
pretty serious he was able to remain when she spoke to a small crowd of about
read
on her website.
optimistic, spreading that talent to ten students and staff.
www.jessicadulong.com
the audience by making suggestions
Although the turnout was not great, her
Shari Goldhagen
A handful of literary-minded students
took a break from the sunshine of the
Faculty Retreat day to workshop with Shari
Goldhagen, a fiction teacher in New York
City and freelance writer. The workshop
was on a more recently recognized form of
creative writing: flash fiction.
Flash fiction is short fiction. How short?
Depends on who you talk to. There is no
consensus among the entirety of writers as
to what word length is acceptable. Some
say only 10 to 300 words while others say
up to 1,000 words works.
Goldhagen provided students with
sheets that had a few different examples
of flash fiction. The first was an Ernest
Hemingway piece: “For sale: baby shoes,
never worn.” Following it were two that
were about a paragraph each and the last
three provided were from a page created by
Smith Magazine called Six Word Memoirs
that anyone can submit at www.smithmag.
net/sixwords. These showed a range of
lengths and topics that added to the variety
of the stories that five Marist students had
submitted to her before the event.
Short passages from these stories
were read then Goldhagen discussed the
strengths and weaknesses of each story with
the other students. The five who wrote were
Karl Parker
Tips from Shari Goldhagen for
Writing Flash Fiction
• Keep idea small
• Start with something
happening
• Have a concise central image
• Reference other works:
provides a lot of information in
a short amount of words
• Cut out adjectives and adverbs
• Cut out unnecessary parts
• Figure out if you start too early
or too late
• Don’t provide too much
backstory
• Optional: surprise or twist
ending
provided with useful feedback from peers
and an established writer. Everyone got to
write up their own 140-character, Twitterlength stories and six word memoirs to
share before the actual workshop of the
student stories.
www.sharigoldhagen.com
Karl Parker visted on March 31st, the
same day as DuLong, so I was unable to
attend this event. He teaches literature
and creative writing at Hobart & William
Smith Colleges. His work has appeared
in various journals and a chapbook
Harmstorm. He has been published by No
Tell Books which is an independent press
specializing in poetry that was founded by
Reb Livingston, a publisher and editor who
visited Marist College in Spring 2008.
One can read more about him in his
interview on the blog of Marist’s Spring
2010 Poetry Workshop at poetry311.
blogspot.com.
Rachel Zucker
Rachel Zucker is a poet who has
published four books including her most
recent, Museum of Accidents. She is also
a teacher at Columbia and is studying to
become a childbirth educator.
Again, she is another poet I did not get
to see myself but her interview with the
Spring 2010 Poetry Workshop is also at
poetry311.blogspot.com or you can check
out her website.
www.rachelzucker.net
Rachel Zucker reads to a nearly full Henry Hudson Room Photo by Amy Wheeler
6
Totally Bamboozled
By Eden Jezierski
People from all over are always excited
for the Bamboozle Festival; a three-day
event in East Rutherford, NJ. The weekend
starts off with the Hoodwink Festival
where bands of all genres do cover songs,
followed by two days of non-stop music
from a plethora of pop-punk bands. I was
able to attend on Saturday, May 1st. While
the heat was near unbearable and the sun
was burning every person there, it was still
a day loaded with performances and fun.
THE PRETTY RECKLESS
himself to be very impressive on stage.
Playing songs such as “Space”, “Me
and The Moon”, and the well-admired
“Konstantine”, I was in awe. Andrew
McMahon is not only an amazing pianist,
but the songwriting
attached to his vocals
is just breathtaking.
This set was beyond
spectacular and I think
it will definitely strike
up more and more
talk from Bamboozle
and SOCO fans alike.
★★★☆☆
h t t p : / / w w w .
myspace.com/
somethingcorporate
Any Gossip Girl fans out there? Well
if you are, Taylor Momsen, the face of
Jenny Humphrey, is the lead front in The
Pretty Reckless. I’d like to say her voice
has a Janis Joplin meets Nirvana kind of
feel. For a sixteen-year-old, her vocals are
pretty strong. Aside from her unappealing
personality
and
her terrible, vulgar
I hate to start this one off
commentary between
negatively, but there was
songs, I can’t bash
absolutely nothing good
Momsen too much –
about Ke$ha’s set. People
only because the girl
were upset enough that
has a decent voice
she was added to the
and the instrumentals
line up, but what made
played by her band
it even better was the
were great enough.
amount of people who
Although,
hearing
were actually crowded
the blonde bombshell
around to watch her. The
scream
throughout
blonde was wearing an
the second song of
Indian headdress and was
her set, you could see
spewing glitter across the
the crowd beginning
stage for most of her set.
to disperse. Haven’t
The worst part of it all was
heard them? The
the fact that you couldn’t
The Pretty Reckless Eden Jezierski even hear her vocals.
Pretty Reckless have
a song called “Make
When you could, they
Me Wanna Die”, featured on the Kickass were flat and she could barely hit the notes
original soundtrack. ★★★☆☆
that she proved she could on her album. We
http://www.myspace.com/theprettyreckless all know that her recordings sound great,
but that’s because of her best friend – auto
I had seen previous performances of
SOMETHING CORPORATE tune.
her on American Idol and on YouTube; I
This was one of the most anticipated
was nowhere near impressed. Once again,
perfomances of the Bamboozle Festival in
I was far from impressed at Bamboozle
my eyes. While the crowd wasn’t nearly
when she sang her drunken songs live.
as large as the other headliners, there
★★☆☆☆ – just because I’m nice.
were still plenty of people there that had
http://www.myspace.com/kesha
come to reminisce about their childhoods.
Andrew McMahon, the voice of Something
Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin proved
KE$HA
7
T. MILLS
Previous issue, I had written an article
about this 21-year-old hip pop artist. Finally
seeing him live added to his uncanny charm.
This being the first time he had performed
on the East
Coast, you
could tell he
has a lot of
talent on the
“rapping”
forefront.
When he had
performed
his remake
of “Tik-Tok”
(he had taken
the beat to
Ke$ha
TMills Eden Jezierski the
hit and put
his own twist and lyrics to it), the crowd
went insane. His energized stage presence
was definitely passed on to his fans. What
worked the most with T. Mills’s set?
People who had never heard him before
were standing around for his show and
then proceeded to go to his merchandise
tent and buy out most of his merchandise.
Looks like what he’s doing is still working.
★★★★☆
http://www.myspace.com/tmills
DRAKE
I’d have to say that Drake’s set was
anticipated as much as Something
Corporate’s. Most of us know Drake as
wheel chair ridden Degrassi character,
Jimmy Brooks, while the other half knows
him as the Canadian rapper. Honestly,
Drake seemed to come out of left field when
his “Best I Ever Had” hit radio stations
last summer. Either way, he sounded
phenomenal and seeing the crowd singing
along was impressive. He has definitely
made his mark in the rapping world, but
his Degrassi role will never be forgotten;
since several fans were walking around in
“I Love Jimmy Brooks” shirts. He went
over his set time, causing Paramore to start
late, but it was well worth it due to his
performance. ★★★★☆
http://www.myspace.com/thisisdrake
DJ SKEET SKEET
I want to give the next artist a special
mention, just because I was able to sit
down and speak to him myself. If you
don’t know who DJ Skeet Skeet is, his
real name is Trevor McFedries. He’s a
mid-western native who taught himself
to DJ with a little help from his friends.
He’s perfomed for thousands at previous
Coachella and Lollapalooza festivals
and is a pro at remixing songs by Katy
Perry and 3OH!3. During his set, people
were dancing, singing, and just having an
amazing time. There are times when house
music and remixes are fun to listen to and
Skeet Skeet definitely made that possible
as the last to play on the B-Boy Linc Star
stage. ★★★★★
http://www.myspace.com/djskeetskeet
DJ Skeet Skeet CreativeCommons.org/EricHamilton
ONE ON ONE WITH DJ SKEET SKEET
How did you become interested in spinning, mash ups, remixes? How did you learn?
I grew up playing in bands, like really crappy bands in the Midwest. Basically, when I got tired of being in crappy bands, I wanted to
make music my own. It was kind of accessible with computers and applications, which was more of a reason to make my own beats.
I started doing that, you bring natural progression into dance music which is a lot of the time driven by one person on a computer
making stuff. I stumbled into electronic music and started playing with my friends for fun and you pretty naturally go from wanting to
make it to wanting to play it out and that’s where teaching kind of fit into the picture.
I’m definitely one of the biggest nerds that I know, I think it was pretty intuitive to like, download an application, start poking around
and twisting knobs ‘til something sounds kind of cool, then figuring out how to make that work over two minutes, three minutes or
whatever else. As far as DJ’ing, a lot of it was going out and watching friends do it and then going on YouTube and watching people
do it and reaching out for information whenever I could. A lot of DJs, YouTube videos, just trying it out at my own home, stumbling
into cool things, making mistakes and learning from them.
How do you feel about playing Bamboozle?
I think it’s awesome, I love playing stuff like that because growing up I was really into punk and that whole scene. So it’s interesting
because I’m doing something that’s pretty different from that, but it’s become so open-minded and kind of eclectic so I’m allowed to
go out there and play kind of weird dance music and kids from all different backgrounds can get down to it. It’s pretty awesome.
What’s the best part about playing for people?
I think it’s pretty awesome to go out and make a bunch of people happy. Like, it sounds really corny, but that to me is always the
biggest kicker about DJ’ing is watching a bunch of people having a good time because of what you’re doing. I imagine that its kind of
maniacle that you’re the cause of all of it, but going out there and playing records that maybe you’ve made or anyone’s made and you
see a whole reel of people having a great time, that’s definitely like the best part for me.
What advice do you have for people who are attempting remixes themselves and are trying to
become DJs?
I would say definitely do your own thing. I think the way most people went into DJ’ing or performing any kind of music is by
creating your own music instead of chasing what’s popular. If it becomes popular – you know, more power to you, if not, if you have a
loyal group of fans, that’s going to pay off in the long run.
To read the full interview, go to http://generatormagazine.blogspot.com.
8
Review of a
Diverse
Open Mic Night
By Monica Speranza
Usually, open mic or karaoke nights are expected
to be a sometimes-tipsy montage of mediocre performers. But after the performances that took place
during April 15th’s Sustainability Open Mic Night,
there is huge promise of expertise by the Marist
community. Surprisingly (or not), the entertainment was well done, engaging, and enjoyable for
the audience.
Eleven performers took the stage in the PAR that
Thursday night, with the size of the crowd growing
throughout the event—at one point there weren’t
enough chairs in the room for everyone. The event
was sponsored by SPC with SPC Secretary Laura
Nipe as acting MC. The event was also co-hosted
by the medical fraternity on campus (Phi Delta Epsilon) which was fundraising for Haiti. Phi Delta
Epsilon took donations for Haiti relief victims at
the door.
The lineup of the night included singer-songwriters Mike Vizzi, Cynthia Dagenais and Leanne Sullivan, magician Kevin Manning, a duet by Myriah
Anderson and Andrew Loveland and a few other
student performers. All the performances were
very good, but five performances were particularly
notable.
Vinnie Pagano entertained with musical comedy.
The jokes in his songs were mostly dirty humor, but
were clever and the audience received it well. One
song, “But Her Face,” was all about a girl with a
hot body, but a horrendously ugly face. It reminded
me of a song by comedian Brian O’Sullivan who
came to Marist in September of last semester.
Pianist Matt Scuteri was also good - not solely
due to his performance, but because of the piz-
9
zazz he exhibited throughout it. Before his actual performance he engaged the audience in a
round of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”. He was the
most charismatic performer that night and was
the first performer who made a point to mention
the fundraiser.
David Devenzin, who entertained with offensive rap, was a hit with the crowd. Although the
content of his rap and free-styling was rather obscene, he free-styled very impressively by making the audience laugh with phrases like “stay
up like my d***!” He amused the crowd until
the end, when his music started fading out and
he protested by repeating: “Bring the beat back!
I’m feeling it!” It’s quite possible that his performance is on YouTube or Facebook by now, since
I spotted three blackberries recording him.
The only standup comedian of the night, T.J.
Riordan was hilarious. His humor ranged from
making fun of himself (he blamed his lack of
hygiene on saving the environment) to topical
things like Twitter to girls and sex. Near the end
of his act, he tried to answer a question that, personally, I had been thinking about for ages: who
invented prostitution/how did prostitution start?
His slightly awkward demeanor made him loveable.
Last of the night, and a great capper, was the
cute duo nicknamed “CoLo” (Nicole Chin-Lyn
and Laura Russo). “Lo” played guitar very well,
and both had lovely voices that worked well together. They did two mash-ups which they arranged themselves—a mash-up (as some may
know from “Glee”) is a mesh of two songs that
seem different but work together. “Co” said that
she and Russo were brought together by a friend
and just started jamming together. They don’t
perform anywhere, but you can find some of
their jams on YouTube, CoLoMusic13.
Cynthia Dagenais (previous page) performing a song that
she wrote for her brother.
Andrew Loveland and Myriah Anderson (above) covered
Paramore during their performance at Open Mic Night.
Vinnie Pagano (below) talks to the audience before performing.
ALL PHOTOS SHOT BY NICHOLAS PALUMBO
10
LIGHTS:
An Intergalactic Superstar In The Making
By
Eden Jezierski
Meet Valerie Poxleitner, better known as LIGHTS - a
twenty-three year old intergalactic star. A key tar playing
superhero, LIGHTS has an ear-to-ear grin that is bright
enough to “light” up the room. She has an eclectic taste in
animals, as she brags about her pet tarantula named Lance
constantly and can’t help but swoon about conquering
players in World of Warcraft. Her music is distinct of what
would be heard in space and she’s able to get fans on their
feet in a matter of seconds due to her “solar system” like
beats. A Canadian music guru is a great way to describe
the adorable female, she’s able to play several instruments
and has created all of her music under her bunk bed in
Toronto – she’s pure talent.
On April 24, 2010, at Terminal 5 in NYC, Lights
opened the stage for Owl City alongside Nashville-based
Paper Route. I was able to attend the event and got to see
Lights perform for myself. She was definitely a charm to
see and her stage presence was close to beautiful. Seeing
an artist on stage with so much passion for what they do
is an amazing thing, especially coming from an artist who
has yet to break through into the American music world.
Lights’ set was simple; a pink wooden stand holding
up her Korg synthesizer and her keyboard below that on
another stand. On the side laid her famous Yamaha key
tar. Behind her was the rest of her band, heightening the
Lights music experience even more. Her voice flooding
Terminal 5 showed passion, dedication, and an all around
fervor for performing.
She started off the night with the song “The Listening”, which happens to be the title of her first CD release. Dressed in a leather jacket and combat boots, the
dark haired beauty bounced to her own beats, nearly spilling her heart out when she sang every lyric. The crowd
cheered and added the perfect background vocals as the
song continued. As soon as the first song commenced, the
venue filled with applause and cheers from everyone present.
11
Flashing her ear-to-ear grin again, she called out to
the fans in the stage, “What’s up New York! This song
is about World of Warcraft, it’s called ‘Lions’!” Continu-
ing with her set, she proceeded to play the song – one
that was very upbeat and poppy, that stayed true to her
sound. She continued to bounce in place as her fingers
gracefully played the keys, her voice soaring through the
venue once again. At times, she proved that she was more
than capable of hitting stronger, louder notes. The crowd
bounced in place, singing along to her World of Warcraft
inspired song.
Lights finally put her key tar to work. Her next
song played was “February Air,” which she is best known
for. This song was featured in an Old Navy advertisement
back in 2008, proving that the Canadian pop star was born
ready for stardom. The whammy-like melody poured out
of the speakers in Terminal 5 and this is where the crowd
went wild. You could hear nearly every person in the audience singing along and you could see the excitement
and love flourishing over Lights’ face.
Halfway through her array of songs, video-gameloving Lights added a humorous twist to her set. Before
playing her well-known song “Ice”, she had introduced
it with the recognizable Mario Bros. tune. It wasn’t too
long before it was time to play a slower song. Her album
is filled with an array of heart racing electro pop music,
but this slower song was much more stripped down and
raw. “Pretend” is played on traditional piano and proves
the power and dedication Lights is able to portray with
her voice. It balanced the show greatly, showing what she
was really capable of doing musically.
She finished the show off with the song “The Last
Thing On Your Mind”, bringing her set to a close. Leaving with her leather jacket and combat boots, Lights
took a bow to both ends of the venue before leaving the
stage, ear-to-ear grin shining throughout the theatre as the
crowd continued to clap. What made the Lights experience even more exciting for me was getting to speak with
her afterwards. She may have been one of the sweetest,
most down to earth females in the music business today.
It was amazing hearing the excitement in her voice during
the interview.
I
N
T
E
R
V
I
E
W
W
I
T
H
L
I
G
H
T
S
How is it touring with Owl City?
It’s been amazing. I think one of the biggest advantages is how easy it is to
play for these crowds. Our music is pretty similar, electro-pop, easy to dance
along to, so coming to the show to see Owl city and they love electro-pop
music so I get to go in there and play for them what I have and I notice most of
them are going to enjoy it more so than if I was on tour with Protest the Hero
or something like I was two years ago. You play for people you have to work a
little harder to impress, but there are people who love electro. It’s been such a
blast every night; every show has been sold out.
Is it tough going out on the road and leaving
Lance behind?
(laughs) Yes, we were in Toronto yesterday, I got to
go home and feed him and make sure he was doing
alright. It’s heartbreaking, you know? It really takes
a toll on me emotionally; I dream about him, I
hope he’s okay.
Do you ever get nervous when you
perform live?
When I first started touring two years ago, the first year and a half,
literally, I got so nervous. Then just then one day, I can almost probably
point out the day that it happened, I stopped being nervous. Your nervous
ness turns more into excitement, you get the adrenaline pumping before
the show, it’s not the same as nervous.
If you could concoct your perfect tour, whom would you
go on the road with?
My neat tour would be with Mute Math. I would love to go out with
them. They’re awesome and I really respect them. He’s like the only
other awesome keytar playing (laughs).
Lights - Image by Underground Op Rec.
To see my interview with Lights in its entirety,
visit Generator’s Blog at
generatormagazine.blogspot.com.
12
I Was There: Third Eye Blind
By Olivia McMahon
at Marist College
13
Third Eye Blind could not have picked a
nicer weekend to pay Marist College a visit.
SPC arranged a great show for us this year,
even adding snacks for sale in addition to
the multitude of free water given out. Third
Eye Blind: a fantastic band choice to transition into the coming summer and to accompany the growing feeling of wanting to
stay outside all day and not focus on finals.
All day long, echoes of “I want something
else…to get me through this semi-charmed
kinda life” reverberated in the hallways of
Midrise (and I am very sure this was true of
other dorms as well). At 2 pm, despite the
sweltering heat, hundreds of fans poured
through the tunnel and down to the river
entrance where bags were checked, tickets
were collected and wristbands were administered.
The first performer up on stage was Jeff
LeBlanc, a singer/songwriter who put on a
surprisingly good acoustic set for playing
alone. The students present so far had taken
refuge under the water tent or were lounging about across the lawn on beach towels.
Many people, myself included, only walked
in during the middle of his set while he was
playing a cover of Riahana’s “Please Don’t
Stop the Music.” Although the songs were
acoustic and more mellow, he was very
funny and interacted with the crowd well.
“Hey to the people on the hill! What’s up?”
he yelled at one point, after finishing “Take
Your Time on Me” from his CD Signals.
Everyone watching from the hill raised
their hands, but no cheer erupted. He then
responded, “Whatever, people on the hill! I
take back your shout out. Okay, so this next
song is called “I Can’t Love You”…it’s for
the people on the hill!” He played several
other songs of his CD, the best one definitely being “Healed”: a song about being
broken up with over Instant Messenger, or
so he claimed. He was very in tune with the
college crowd, making jokes about Facebook. “You guys should add me on Facebook!” he shouted, “because friendships
are only real if they’re on Facebook.” His
overall performance was reminiscent of
last year’s Matt Nathanson in both content
and interaction with the crowd.
The second band, The Upwelling, took
the stage around 3 pm without much notice
to the crowd and began playing. Their mu-
sic was interesting, but upon listening after, the
recorded songs
were much better
than the band’s
efforts to perform live. They
announced after
a couple of songs
that they had
been touring with
Third Eye Blind
for this whole
spring tour, but
Cell phone contribution because we weren’t given the
you could tell the
photo pass we requested
crowd was conlepsy”, Jenkins took a good two minutes
fused as to why.
They played some songs off of their CD, to talk to the crowd in what sounded like
An American Stranger, like “Wanderlust”, very scripted speech, or it may be that he
“The Garden”, and the most well-received simply talks strangely. “Hi, thanks for insong, “American Girls”. Overall, The Up- viting us to your party! Am I entertaining
welling really just acted as filler music you? We’ve got to do this thing together.
while everyone grew all the more restless You give me a little something and I’ll
give you everything I have.” He also took
to see the main band.
By 3:30, thunderclouds loomed threat- this time to introduce two new members
eningly over the river but did not prove who had played with the band during this
disastrous; if anything, they provided the tour: Chris, the guitarist, who was from
crowd with some much needed shade. No Ireland and Lee, the keyboardist, who was
one was sitting on blankets and towels a senior from the Berkley College of Muanymore; the crowd was pressed close in sic. Some more of the lineup followed as
hopes of getting nearer to the stage. Every- listed: “Company” (off of Out of the Vein),
one was getting antsy for the band to come “Monotov’s Private Opera”, “Can You
on, if only to hear “Semi-Charmed Life” Take Me”, and “Bonfire” (off of their new
and “Jumper”, the two most well-known CD Ursa Major), “Anything”, “Never Let
of their songs. I personally had missed You Go” and “Walking with the Wounded”
the opportunity to see them four times in (all off of Blue), “Losing a Whole Year”
a row last year, and was envious of those (off of Third Eye Blind self-titled) and a
people standing behind me discussing the great performance of “Jumper” (also off of
three times they had gone to see the popu- Third Eye Blind self-titled). The band then
lar 90’s band. Finally, around 4 pm, Third said thank you and walked off, waiting to
Eye Blind took to the stage to lots of cheer- turn around to walk back on (because that’s
ing, Stephan Jenkins, the lead singer, start- how encores work).
It hadn’t even been two minutes before
ing off by saying, “That’s a huge thunderthe
band traipsed back onto the stage, evcloud. Do you get it Marist College? It’s
eryone
resuming their places and then
gonna rain!” My friends had always told
launching
into the song “Don’t Believe
me that the lead singer never wore shoes
a
Word”
off
of their newest CD, a great
onstage; I was happy to see that Jenkins
crowd-pleaser
with tons of energy behind
was indeed barefoot during the entire perit.
After
Third
Eye
Blind played that song,
formance. They immediately jumped into
the
crowd
knew
there
was only one song
the song “Faster” off of their third CD Out
of the Vein. They followed up with “GradContinue onto next page...
uate” and “Narcolepsy” (off of Third Eye
Blind self-titled). In the middle of “Narco-
Echo and the Bunnymen:
Do it in the Dark and They Do it Well
By Justine Mann
Kelly Stoltz, Will Sergeant, and Ian McCulloch
The Fairfield Theatre Company at the of smoke (he went through nearly half a geant, another of the original Bunnymen.
Klien welcomed the 80’s post-punk band to pack during the show) he looked more rock The group reformed in 1997 after a nearly
Connecticut for a spectacular and intimate and roll than anyone the audience had ever decade long split. Of late, bass player Les
performance. After an impressive opening laid eyes on, without watching MTV.
Pattinson left the group after their reunion
performance by Kelly Stoltz and a round
The group is best known among col- album, Evergreen, became successful.
of his stalker-esque trivia about the band, lege-aged listeners for their single The Most recently McCulloch and Sergeant rethe group took the stage and immediately Killing Moon which was on their 1984 CD leased The Fountain in 2009.
killed the lights.
The band wasn’t the only thing being
Ocean Rain. It was also the scene music for
Ian McCulloch, lead vocals, couldn’t the first sequence of the 2001 cult classic discussed in the post-show adrenaline jabget the house shadowy enough as he let go Donny Darko (theatrical version). Their ber. As the admirers spilled into the parking
his dark lyrics and sinister chords. Their first single to make it on a soundtrack was lot revenge was on their tongues. Towards
iconic 80s sound kept its promise by echo- Bring on the Pretty Horses, the final song the end of the show a fan, sick of the tongue
ing clear and creating numinous feeling. for John Hughes’ Pretty in Pink. It recently and cheek exchange McCulloch had with
Breaks in play were filled with short but made a comeback on the Hot Tub Time Ma- fans, jumped on stage and took a swing. He
(generally) love filled heckling from the chine soundtrack.
was immediately crushed under a pile of
audience. One fan requested McCulloch
Bunny-aficionados could be happy to security, band-mates and roadies.
take his glasses off, but he kept them on have the chance to see McCulloch back
The group ended the night with covthe entire performance. Ending his set with on stage with fellow member Will Ser- ers by The Velvet Underground and James
fight-hair, a hoodie, sunglasses, and a ring
Brown.
...Third Eye Blind Continued
from previous page...
that they could follow up with: “SemiCharmed Life”. Everyone was immediately off of their feet jumping, cheering, and
screaming the words, filling in the blanks
when Jenkins would stop singing and hold
the microphone out to us. There were times
it was difficult to hear the band over the
crowd’s singing along. For most of us, this
song was released when we were between
seven and ten years old and it has never
gotten old, an amazing feat to be accomplished by a band. Jenkins, again, stopped
in the middle of this song to slip in a real
quick rendition of “Party in the USA” before launching into another one of his heartfelt speeches: “I believe in people who can
give themselves some chance of redemption, because we make music and we’re
people who really don’t belong anywhere
except right here. Thank you for giving us
that chance! Thank you all!” They finished
the encore set with the song “Water Landing”, also off of their newest CD, a great
end to the show.
Overall, it was a great show. Perhaps it
would have been a little better had I actually been granted the interview I was promised with the drummer, Brad, Hargreaves,
and had a chance to meet the band I’ve so
admired since I was ten years old. SPC did
a great job of bringing an awesome band
to Marist College and Third Eye Blind did
a pretty decent job of showing that they’re
only good for playing music rather than
connecting with fans.
14
Unity Day
Springtime
Honors Project
Reception
Robin Hood
The Vagina
Monologues
Relay for Life
15
Women’s
Water Polo
MAAC
Champs
Dance Show
Helen
Thomas
at Marist
Riverfest
Festival
Photos by Amy Wheeler
16
Desperately Seeking
Action Heroine
I’m terribly sorry to have to be the
one to say this but Blake Lively you’re
no Karen Allen.
The same goes for you Gwyneth Paltrow and Kirsten Dunst.
While all are highly sought after and
decorated actresses, they are not the
type of girl you want on your side during a fight. When I read comic books
growing up the only time I envisioned
anyone resembling Paltrow was when
reading Blossom or Archie. Yet when
Iron Man needed a girlfriend there she
was.
Dunst may have worked for Toby
Maguire because well… he’s Toby Maguire. You just can’t take a guy who’s
trying so hard to work the pathetic nerd
look and put him next to Rachel McAdams and expect sparks. But come on,
there have to be some women in Hollywood with some more chutzpah to fill
these roles.
Blake Lively is currently attached
to play Carol Ferris in Green Lantern.
Somehow the young blonde bombshell
stepping into the edgy shoes of MBA
heiress Ferris is a hard stretch. I doubt
she will handle any future transitions
into Ferris’ alter-ego Star Sapphire
well. Imagining Lively in hand-to-hand
combate with Ryan Reynolds (set to
play Green Lantern) is laughable. The
list of potential Ferrises on Latinoreview left me thinking Eva Green (Casino Royale) had no competition but
unfortunately I was wrong. Of course
if Lively manages to pull this off, she’ll
be in line for every role Warner Bros.
has to offer.
The popular trend in super-hero girlfriends is surprising. They re-define
waif. Female side-kicks of the past
could dish out almost as good as their
super-human partner.
Follow Jennifer Garner’s (Daredevil)
lead Lively, muscle up and surprise us
all by doling out some serious damage
within the first fifteen minutes.
By Justine Mann
CreativeCommons.org/Jeffisageek
Top 5 Damsels Not-so in Distress
5. Zorro - Catherine Zeta Jones comes close to
besting Antonio Banderas’ in a dual.
4. Batman Forever - Nicole Kidman sticks with Val
Kilmer against not one but two villians, Two-Face and
the Riddler.
3. Die Hard - Bonnie Bedelia stands strong against
Hans Gruber after her boss’s death leaves her in
charge.
2. Indiana Jones - Karen Allen can drink you under
the table and throw a mean left-hook.
1. Blade Trinity - Jessica Biel’s punches pack heat
even against the undead.
CreativeCommons.org/gundamtsubasa
17
LOST
The Greatest Show
in Television History?
By Michael Cresci
As a fan of the television show Lost I often find myself on the defensive. Non-fans
discover my fandom and immediately barrage me with questions.
“How are they still on an island?”
“How are there polar bears on an island!?”
“I watched an episode and it made no
sense. How can you like that sh**?”
I sigh because despite my best efforts to
explain the show I know it’s a futile effort.
That’s because Lost’s greatest asset is also
its greatest flaw. Depth.
The show is massively expansive and
has created a detailed mythology which
requires that EVERY single episode be
watched in order for the show to make
any sort of sense. While for some this is
unrealistic and grueling, especially considering how long Lost fans have to wait for
answers. Those of us who have made the
commitment to watch the show are now being rewarded as the show races towards its
climax.
Season six is the last season. The creators made the deal to end the show after
this season way back at the end of season
two because they wanted the show to have
an ending and not just linger on until cancellation. The result has been,
arguably, the
single greatest television experience in
history.
CreativeCommons.org/Piutus
What started out as the tale of plane
crash survivors doing their best to not die
has become a sweeping epic encompassing elements of Sci-fi, action, adventure,
romance, comedy and just about anything
else you can think of. While this may
sound random and thrown together it is all
handled gracefully by the outstanding writing staff and the best group of actor’s on
television.
The first three seasons utilized a structure which split time between stories on the
island and flashbacks of each characters’
life. As time went on we quickly began to
see that these characters were connected
in ways they never could have imagined.
And then the season 3 finale changed everything. After ending with what is possible the greatest cliff hanger in television
history (it’s so good that I won’t spoil it
here) the show began to use a new structure
of storytelling for each remaining season.
This has managed to keep the overarching
story thoroughly engrossing and showed
us aspects of the story from new perspectives. But what makes Lost truly special is
its characters. No show has ever so painstakingly developed characters. Characters
you hate become likeable. Characters you
love become questionable. And each episode, usually focusing on one or two characters, manages to be a spectacular
stand alone story.
Take for instance the episode “The Constant.” Most
online fan polls have voted
it the best episode of Lost.
It simultaneously dealt
with the time travel
aspect of the show,
which until this episode was something
that would make any
fan scream “jump the
shark”, while delivering an amazing love
story. The Time Traveler’s Wife doesn’t have
sh** on Lost.
CreativeCommons.org/stuartpilbrow
Every episode guarantees a unique story
that manages three impressive feats. 1.)
We learn something important about the
character. 2.) The larger overarching story
progresses. 3.) The episode tells an excellent self contained story of its own. What
results is easily watchable television capable of rewarding its viewers like no other
program can. The wait between seasons
may be painful but there is nothing like
gathering with friends to watch the season
premieres. And the weekly waits between
episodes are made even more difficult by
Lost’s habit of ending episodes with mindbending cliff hangers. The show can keep
you on the edge of your seat for seven
straight days. The show transcends itself
to become an experience. There is no other
show capable of this.
So as we Lost fans approach the finale
of the, thus far, incredibly satisfying final
season our heads spin with questions. We
spend a great deal of time terrified that the
finale can’t live up to our lofty expectations. But I personally have learned over
the course of my fandom that no writing
staff is more deserving of our trust than this
one. So instead my thoughts turn to the
legacy the show will hold after all is said
and done.
Finally, I make this bold prediction:
Lost will go down as the greatest show in
television history. Years and years from
now when viewed as a complete body of
work it will be considered an undeniable
masterpiece of storytelling, character development, and multi-layered thematic
brilliance. Not to say Lost is some pinnacle
of elitist art. There’s an incredibly loveable
character that overuses the word “dude.”
In the end it’s still television. But it’s damn
good television, and that’s enough.
18
Looking at Mental Disabilities
through New Lenses:
The
Girls
Next
Door
By Mary Treuer
19
When you were in kindergarten, you
learned to sound out the letters of the words
in your favorite story and count as high as
you could. You played with the other children at recess and developed social skills
and learned the norms that would be important to you throughout your academic career and beyond. Maybe your parents and
teachers praised you, maybe you struggled
and received extra help until you managed
to pass the classes and find success. Somehow, you developed the mental and social
skills to find yourself sitting here capable to
read this article. You’re a student at Marist
College, a professor with years of education and prominent research or publications, a friend or relative of a Marist student who may have been college educated
or at least had the opportunity to complete
an 8th grade education. But what if you
couldn’t read this?
What if you were mentally handicapped?
What if the simple tasks you take for granted each day, such as reading, writing, memorizing information, using common sense,
or even having a normal conversation were
no longer possible? This would be your life
if you were one of the four people in Tom
Griffin’s Play The Boys Next Door, or
MCCTA’s adaptation The Girl’s Next Door.
Marist College Council for Theater
Arts held five performances of this play
on April 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, and 18th.
The five major characters of this play are
Alice Wiggins (Lina Kirby), Lucille P.
Smith (Kimberly Birch), Norma Bulansky
(Molly Cambone), Barbara Klemper (Alexa Mullen), four women living in a group
home, and Jill (Mairead Delaney), their
social worker. The play focuses mainly on
the challenges these four mentally handicapped women face on a day to day basis
and also draws attention to the struggle Jill
faces working with these women.
Most of the play is nothing short of hilarious, as the characters engage in spontaneous antics such as smuggling donuts into
their apartment, praising the heroic feats of
Spiderman or playing with animal puppets.
Each of the actors are able to capture the
sincere honesty that made the characters so
humorous. While much of the play is filled
with laughter, the true meaning behind the
story is rather serious. The reason why the
cast is able to speak so frankly through their
characters is probably because the message
of the play resonates so deeply with them.
The cast believes that although the play
focuses on the lives of mentally handicapped women, the messages in the show
are appropriate for anyone. The production
deals with struggles that the average person
faces and how they handle them, regardless of a disability. Not only does the show
reach a wide audience, it also dares to explore life for a person who has a mental disability and portray this in a way that the average person does not often see. “This play
looks at mental handicaps from so many
different angles,” says Wesley Barnes who
plays Karen Warren and the Senator in the
production. The play’s message was meaningful to the audience as well as the actors.
“Working on the Girls Next Door has been
an eye-opening experience. It made it okay
for me to laugh at the miscommunications,
hate those who take advantage of people
with such gentle souls, and accept the mentally disabled as a genuinely special part
of our community,” says Emily Callahan
(Mrs. Klemper).
The play does not only portray the difficulty that someone with a mental dis-
Photo by Emily Callahan
ability faces, but it also exposes the issues
social workers must deal with every single
day in their profession. Social workers
are constantly challenged to cope with the
emotions of those they work with while refraining from losing their patience. This is
especially difficult for those who work with
the mentally handicapped who often experience erratic emotions. Social workers
are often underpaid and must consistently
bring their work home with them, bearing
the emotional repercussions of their clients
and the strain of their job. Mairead Delaney who plays the social worker Jill says,
“Somewhere in that profession (social
work), you ask yourself is this doing more
good or bad. How much of yourself do you
have to give up?” This is the issue Jill faces
in the play. Should she follow her own career aspirations to be successful or continue
to work with the women who have gripped
her heart and have desperately needed her
help?
The Girls Next Door is much more than
an enjoyable performance. It is a lesson that
opens the minds and hearts of the audience.
This play makes it easy to learn from and
laugh with the characters, instead of laughing at them. Both amusing and enlightening, this play is one that will stay with the
audience for a long time after the final bow.
Marist Dancers
Pump Up the Volume
Your heart is hammering in your
chest and cold sweat is consuming
your body as you stand in the
dark. You feel tense, waiting for
the music to fill every opening in
your body and soul. Every dancer
around you shares this moment of
adrenaline, pure and solid in your
mind. All semester you and over
400 other people have been putting
way too much time and effort into
the show for this moment to not
be so overwhelming. Welcome to
the Marist College spring semester
dance show 2010: Pump Up The
Volume.
Hopefully reading the description
above you had a little bit of the
experience that all of the MCDC
dancers have during this spring’s
showcase. If you attended the
show, you hopefully saw the
dedication and effort that went
into the performance. Some people
performed once, others as many
as seven times, but each time the
same rush of pride and fear washed
through them.
The Marist College Dance Club,
or MCDC for short, works all
semester long to put on shows like
this for the community and college.
The goal of the club is to provide
dancers with an outlet for their
physical and musical expression and
to showcase their individual skills.
If you’re unaware of MCDC, it is
the second largest student run club
on campus with eight executive
board members to keep the rest of us
in line. They coordinate rehearsals,
create meetings, organize class
times and locations, and run the
entire production at the end of the
semester. To be a member in the
club, one must commit to doing
community service and to help the
production go smoothly in some
way.
Dancers sell refreshments and
apparel at the show, as well as hand
out programs and greet audience
By Emily Bales
members. This semester’s show
was different from others in the
past, however.
To begin, MCDC felt that it’s
show needed to return to Marist
campus in the McCann center gym
for the first time in 2 years. Exciting
right? As a dancer in the club, I was
able to watch the production unfold
and become something great from
the inside.
The club decided to utilize the
bleachers for seating and to create a
stage complete with expert lighting
and curtains. In addition to the new
location, four of the eight executive
board members are graduating
seniors, making this show their last.
Because of this, everyone felt a
sense of purpose to make this show
the best yet.
Stepping up to fill the shoes
of current Dance Club president,
Johanna Valente, a graduating
senior, is Arianna Cesa. Arianna
agreed that putting the show in the
McCann center was a struggle for
several reasons. Because they had
trouble with seating the last time
the event took place in the gym,
they decided to use the bleachers.
Because of this, they also had
difficulty in creating a stage that
would help the gym “feel like a
theater” and have the audience
enjoy the show. They succeeded in
the end however by creating a very
professional atmosphere.
They would like to thank Bob
Lynch and Darren McCormack for
their invaluable help in this process.
In the future, Arianna hopes to
continue the legacy that Johanna
has left behind. She believes that
the club improves every semester
due to the dedication of the dancers
and variety that all of the dancers
bring. Marist College Dance Club
is growing every semester, and
would love one to see you all at the
fall showcase next semester!
Photos by Amy Wheeler
20
“I’M NO ROLE MODEL”
By Mike Walsh
21
I’ve always lived life by the
Charles Barkley quote “I’m not a
role model, I’m not paid to be a role
model.” I would always hate how
whenever I did something bad as a
teen; breaking curfew, getting poor
grades, or lying, how my parents
would tell me how I was setting
a poor example for my younger
brother and cousins.
I always looked up to my older
brother, Ryan and was always proud
of him for his accomplishments. I
hugged him when he was inducted
into National Honors Society and
graduated in the top five of his high
school class. I wrote him a card
after his first week at Providence
College. He dated one girl through
high school and throughout college.
He graduated PC last spring with a 3.999
and enrolled at Maryland for grad school.
He is interning with the Department of
Homeland Security, and now that I’m 21,
I’m going to buy him a drink after finals
next week. We will laugh and talk and
catch up since we don’t talk much anymore
with him living in D.C.
Still though, no matter how proud I was
to have him be as successful as he is, I
never wanted to emulate my life after him.
My 2.6 high school GPA never sniffed
the NHS. I dated a multitude of different
girls, never for more than a couple months.
I party far more than he did at Marist
and I’m nowhere in the vicinity of a 4.0.
After I graduate, I’ll be looking for a low
paying reporting or broadcasting job and
not thinking about even applying to top
graduate programs. I never wanted to be
like him and that was never a big deal.
I always looked up to guys like Nomar
Garciaparra, Antoine Walker, Michael
Jordan, Tiger Woods, and even Stephen
Tyler and Eminem. It was always famous
athletes or rock stars with me and many of
my friends.
And until recently, Barkley’s quote rang
true in my mind. Things like drinking till
you puke every Saturday night at house
parties and Nuddy, blowing off essays and
homework assignments to hang out with
the guys and watch football for 10 hours
every Sunday were alright. Nobody was
looking up to me to set an example for
them. It was college and here, we are on
our own.
I started noticing something the last
couple times I’ve been home though. The
younger brother I mentioned earlier, Tim is
now a junior in high school and has started
visiting colleges. Guess what school
appears in the list of his top 6 choices…
That’s right, our very own Marist College.
He was in an argument with my father
one evening about doing homework over
going to baseball practice. My father was
demanding all A’s and B’s on his report card
or no baseball. Tim’s retaliation, “Mike
got D’s on a regular basis!” I couldn’t
even stay in the room. I had to leave; I felt
strangely guilty and didn’t know why.
Over the winter I let my hair grow out
to the longest it had ever been and only
shaved it so I could sport the Mohawk you
all saw in my last story about the MAAC
Tournament. When I would periodically
make it to family events while home, I
started noticing my two 14 year old male
cousins hair getting longer and longer. It
was the same thing I blew off a couple
years ago when their clothes got baggier
and started matching mine.
At our family Easter party, both cousins
showed up with short hair again. My
favorite Aunt came up to me and said
something along the lines of “nice hair
mike, Shayne and Andy heard about it
and suddenly didn’t want the shaggy look
anymore.”
I was floored. My cousins where
modeling their styles after me? My little
brother was modeling his life and excuses
after what he saw me do? Maybe I
was wrong.
Fittingly on Easter Sunday, I
had a pseudo epiphany. I am a
terrible role model. Barkley’s quote
finishes, “I am paid to wreak havoc
on the basketball court. Parents
should be role models. Just because
I can dunk a basketball, doesn’t
mean I should raise your kids.”
I should’ve paid more attention to
the second half. Barkley was right,
he has been arrested for DUIs and
like Jordan and Walker, has had
serious gambling problems. Look
at what is happening currently
for Ben Roethlisberger and Tiger
Woods. Are these the role models
kids should be having? For Christ’s
sake, Eminem sings two songs
without the F word, two songs!
From now on when I’m around my
cousins and little brother, things are going
to change; I need to start being a role
model. The other day I had to give a tour
of the radio studio I intern at to a group of
10 cub scouts from Poughkeepsie and I was
actually nervous about how I would present
myself.
I’d suggest to you big brothers and
cousins out there, rethink what you are
doing right now and if you need to lay off
of something like cursing, drinking, or
smoking, maybe do it and see if it affects
the young ones. We aren’t kids anymore,
but there are kids who look to us for advice
even though it may be unspoken, they are
studying you.
And I’d greatly trade my Manny Ramirez
jersey for a Ryan Walsh suit jacket from the
Department of Homeland Security because
I know who my new role model is.
“Cappity-Cap, Don’t Look Back”
Life After Senior Merchandising Fashion Capping
By Christine Urgola
If you’re not a member of the fashion
department, you’re probably unfamiliar
with the fashion capping process. Perhaps
you have seen the pseudo-zombies that
shuffle between the Donnelly café and
computer labs throughout the spring
semester. (These could also be the
ever-so-stressed design majors whose
lives are always hell). Or maybe you’ve
encountered the students who calculate
every outfit each day and then succumb to
sweatpants when capping is thrown upon
them.
Capping victims develop a business
based on the line of a senior class designer
that is picked out of a hat at the end of fall
semester. We create floor plans, fixtures,
storefronts, logos, taglines, promotional
strategies and so much more.
Senior Merchandising Capping is
completed with groups of an average of
three people, and thus three schedules
must be considered. The business must be
cohesive and viable and culminates with
a major compilation of the seven projects
completed during the semester and an
executive presentation.
The presentation, while only fifteen
minutes, can be a form of torture for those
of us who are introverts (and resort to
writing as a form of expression…) In 900
seconds we must convince the director of
our program, our professors and our peers
that our business deserves a 1,000,000
investment. Pressure, much?
Nothing felt as sweet as sitting back
into my chair after my presentation was
over. Even sitting in Donnelly room 225
for the first two days of presentations, I
was anxiety driven. Now that capping is
over, we slowly re-join the social circles
Representations of Outfits
by Nicole Siani
and I’ve come to appreciate things I never
had even recognized as exceptionally
exciting prior to this experience.
Watching movies without photo
shopping the psychographics of my target
customer, reading trashy magazines
rather than my old fashion textbooks and
spending free time running outside instead
of enjoying visions of running away from
my capping partners are just a few of the
highlights of the end of fashion capping. A
few days after my project was complete,
I felt like a new person. I could actually
take pleasure in the beautiful days on the
green that once would have been only
seen through the glass windows of the
frigid fashion lab.
Attending the fashion show will be
both an exciting and sentimental night for
senior fashion design and merchandising
students. Here, both of our hard work
is showcased in different ways. The
final capping projects are on display
and the seniors’ work will strut down
the runway. Capping may have become
a full-time job but the feeling of being
finished is indescribable and such an
accomplishment, even if you weren’t “in
it to win it,” as some students were.
As it is my final semester here at
Marist, this is my concluding article for
the Generator Magazine. It is bittersweet
as I am both saddened to leave Marist and
excited to face the ‘real world’ and hope
to have been even a small fraction of your
bi-semester reading pleasure.
I encourage you all to attend the fashion
show on Friday May 7 at 2:00 (as the 8:00
show is sold out). And to all of you future
capping seniors: good luck!
Silver Needle Fashion Show
Friday May 7 at 2:00 pm
(8 pm show is sold out)
22
Riccardo Tisci: Pioneering a
New Era in Fashion
By Nicholas Sera-Leyva (of www.districtl.com)
Trend, as a season by season notion, is
becoming less relevant and designers have
been increasingly revisiting past work to
figure out what has been successful, strategically redesigning these pieces to suit
the taste of the current consumer. The styling and merchandizing of looks has also
become more important as mood rather
than trend becomes the zeitgeist of the industry’s creative process. The noughties
have been volatile and truculent times, a
period of refreshing redefinition in much
of the western world across all boards from
politics and economy to global and cultural
affairs; war, disaster, fame, and recession
have all made their mark. The magical
thing about fashion is that all of humanity,
in one way or another, is a direct participant in its conception and function; fashion
is directly informed by the story of the human race. Fashion designers look to this,
with both past and present influencing the
synthesis of a collection.
All images from www.gq.com/style
23
The spring/summer 2010 season is the
starting point of a gradual segue into a new
paradigm for both the industry and the individual, as the fashion community attempts
to define itself within the context of the
last decade. The nineties, the eighties, the
seventies, etc., all have immediately identifiable aesthetics-what of the noughties?
Availability and agility of information sped
up the dissemination of style and the flow
of the fashion cycle has become ever truncated; consumers become bored with fashion quicker, and this in tandem with the
current economic situation has galvanized
designers into becoming more innovative
with the thought process behind their collections.However, to which designers can
today’s dedicated followers of fashion look
for a successful, cohesive executions of
these design principles? Look no further
than Riccardo Tisci, the design genius behind Givenchy. The spring/summer 2010
Men’s collection for the label is a milestone for the decade, a unique and intelligently executed synthesis of decades and
cultures. A closer look at Tisci’s designs
reveals influences from two very different
sources: nineties American music culture
and the Islamic world. Since Tisci took the
helm at Givenchy in 2005 after graduat-
ing from Central Saint Martin’s, his highly
conceptual design aesthetic garners mixed
reviews.Wildly more successful than his
predecessors, however, he has become
a force to contend with in the industry.
As the decade immediately preceding the
noughties, the events of the nineties had a
tremendous impact on the past ten years.
The industry looks to these influences for
inspiration, and Tisci’s collection embodies
them better than any other designer. There
is a pleasing variety in the design and styling of the looks: tasteful, minimalist suits
paired with crisp, hidden-button shirts and
built in cummerbunds, oversized shirts and
deconstructed drop-crotch pants in tartan
and tribal prints sporting intricate gold metal detailing, and athletically inflected tops
in mesh and metallic finish. Consider the
culture, events, and characters that arose
around the music of the early nineties: Kurt
Cobain and Nirvana popularized the moshpit hardcore scene, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube
were key members of Niggaz With Attitude (N.W.A.)-a cardinal hip-hop group
of the gansta rap sub-genre. The fashion
that emerged from these two very different musical influences followed very similar stories with color, merchandizing, and
silhouette. Grunge and punk had a heavy
emphasis on dark colors, studs, leather,
mesh and tartan prints while hip-hop focused on similarly dark palettes with gold
accents, chains, athletic wear and tribal
prints; furthermore, a slouchy, layered, deconstructed silhouette was critical for both.
The influence from the Islamic world, in
particular the Middle East and North Africa,
is also quite apparent in Tisci’s work with
prints inspired by the Kefiyah, ethnic Berber and Chiadma tribal motifs, arabesque
geometric patterns, headscarves, and innovative sandal-like footwear. The gold and
metallic accents, loose deconstruction, and
black, red, and white palette are qualities
shared and inspired by both the musical
and Arab influences. Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa rampaged in the
early nineties, and for much of the decade
all eyes were on the region; the Gulf War,
Muammar al-Gaddafi controversies in both
Libya and abroad, and the Western Sahara
conflict between Morocco and Spain were
all key events that characterized much of
the Arab world to the western eye by way
of the media. As clever as Tisci’s juxtaposition of these two very different rich cultural
sources is, the question remains as to why
he chose them as the inspirational framework for his collection. If nothing else, it
is an innovative take on the intersection
between east and west- as America and the
Middle East often find themselves at odds
with each other, weaving their respective
cultures into such a singular concept is both
extremely difficult and extremely relevant.
The designer stated that the main theme
of the collection was “Latino boy goes to
Morocco”, which was apparent- Tisci continually uses his “Latino boy” as the muse
for his menswear line. The designer is also
known for the gothic edge he likes to imbue into his looks, which meshes well with
“the mosh-pit couture that defined his first
two menswear lines for Givenchy,” as the
Style.com review of the show mentioned.
As his grungey-gothic look has gained
popularity, the decision to apply it within
the parameters of his Moroccan theme may
have finally hit the mark.
Motif and pattern in Islamic art served
a quasi-transcendental function, elevating
an object onto a plane above the ordinary;
in an interesting parallel, Riccardo Tisci’s
showing for Givenchy featuring these same
motifs and patterns achieves a similar effect on the fashion industry, setting precedent for the design process of a new paradigm in fashion conceptualism. Keeping
all of this in mind, the genius behind the
Givenchy Men’s spring/summer 2010 collection is that Tisci successfully considered
all of these influences and melded them
with the modern, minimalist sensibility that
has been a seminal influence on fashion. It
is fair to say that structure and minimalism
will be identified by future designers as an
outstanding motif of early twenty-first century fashion. As a talented designer, Tisci
recognized the importance of this aesthetic
and successfully combined it with an intelligent, relevant nineties edge, simultaneously taking care to craft a collection of
relatively basic sportswear separates that
can easily be carried into future seasons.
It’s a perfect trifecta of masterful, erudite
design that bridges decades, cultures, and
generations - a truly cosmopolitan collection that can keep pace with an increasingly
borderless, rapidly changing world.
24
Most Stylish Student:
Danielle Evangelista
By Rachel Forlifer
In the masses of North Face jackets which she says can “transform any
She also constantly tries to come up
and leggings, some Marist students outfit”. Not only is it stylish, but also with new outfit combinations so she
stand out from the crowd by
doesn’t get bored with her clothes.
showing their individuality. One
For those of you looking to learn
of those students is Danielle
from Danielle, here is her advice:
Evangelista, a freshman from
don’t follow the trends if you don’t
Hawaii.
like them.
For Danielle, style is not
“I enjoy fashion and it makes
about keeping up with what
me feel good, but what’s the point
celebrities are wearing or having
if I don’t like what I’m wearing in
the latest “it” bag. It is her way
the first place? Your clothes should
of expressing herself. “Fashion
always make you feel good, no
is my art,” as she explained it to
matter what,” said Danielle.
me. She doesn’t really have any
So is there anything she would
style icons which makes her all
never be caught wearing? No
the more unique, although she
offense, majority of Marist students,
does sometimes subconsciously
but she hates Crocs and Uggs. And
“channel” Lady Gaga.
one more thing: brown. Why doesn’t
When asked to describe her
she wear brown?
personal style, she says it is a
“It just doesn’t look good on me”,
mix of “classic, trendy, punky,
Danielle explained.
and prep”, which she tries to
Therefore, take a cue from
incorporate into all of her outfits.
Danielle Evangelista, throw a
For example, she was wearing
little individuality into your style,
pearls and converse when I
and wear something other than
interviewed her. She always likes
sweatpants for a day. You never
to have an edge to her outfit, such
know, you just might be the next
as the neon colored streaks in her
Most Stylish Student.
hair. Danielle began to develop
her style as a sophomore in high
school, where she had to wear a
uniform. Thus her creative style
bloomed while trying to still stay
Rachel Forlifer
If you think
within the rules.
Some of Danielle’s favorite
you’ve got style contact
fashion designers include Zac
[email protected]
Posen, Sonia Rykiel, Marc Jacobs, practical. With the sleeves rolled
and see if you get picked
Proenza Schouler, and Valentino. But up it can be casual, but it can also
she is more into bargain shopping dress up whatever she is wearing.
next to showcase your
at places like Nordstrom Rack and This relates to the way Danielle
fashion sense.
H&M.
dresses; keeping staples that she
The most cherished item in her loves and changing everything
closet is a black velvet blazer, else around.
25
Going out in Style
Graduation Fashion Statements
By Christine Urgola
A cap and gown isn’t exactly stylish,
but I am a firm believer in what you wear
underneath can make or break the ‘big
day.’ For my High School graduation I was
ambitious about my final fashion statement
to my peers. I excitedly purchased a sewing
pattern and decided to create a summery
halter dress in a white eyelet fabric with
very cutesy enamel buttons down the back.
After many hours of work I was extremely
pleased with my final product. I wore my
white cap and matching gown which was a
very cheap lightweight nylon material that
allowed all to see my creation underneath.
As I am not a very athletic person, I was
a bit nervous about climbing the steps of
the stage in my heels. (Yes, I believe that
walking in stilettos can be considered
a sport). When my name was called
(and as memory serves me, pronounced
“Arugula”), I stood up with confidence
and smiled brightly as I approached my
principal to accept the certificate I’d
worked so hard for.
When I finally reached the podium, her
smile faded and she glared at me up and
down as she handed over my diploma. I
was so confused. As I made my way down
the stairs she asked, “Are you naked under
that dress, Urgola?” I was stunned: was this
going to be the final impression I’d leave at
Somers High School? I promptly winked
at her, alluding to the fact that I was in
fact “in the buff” and there was absolutely
nothing she could do about it.
My experience was somewhat annoying;
however, with undergraduate ceremonies
just around the corner, I know I have a
second chance. Here are ten critical ground
rules for graduation day style:
Graduation, confidence is important.
the effort to press it beforehand.
3. Wear Flats. Graduation is on the green
and there’s no promising that it will be a
beautiful day. There’s nothing worse than
having your heels sink into the grass. Yuck.
8. Leave the club dress at home. This is a
family affair for most and you don’t want
to be remembered as “the girl in the mini
dress/skirt.” Dress appropriately!
4. Keep it Simple. For both hair and
makeup, simple is best. You don’t want
to be the girl whose face is melted off.
Remember, these photos will most likely be
displayed and looking clean is important.
As for hair, don’t fuss with it. Your locks
will be matted down underneath that ever
so attractive cap.
9. Have fun. This is it! Look great and
enjoy the last few moments where the class
of 2010 is all together.
5. Bring bobby Pins. These little bad boys
make all the difference when fastening
your cap into place. Have plenty on hand.
6. Wear jewelry to stand out. Since
everyone will be rocking the same thing on
the outside, jewelry can play up your style
during the ceremony. Large earrings or a
bold necklace is popular for the summer,
so why not differentiate yourself from the
crowd with a funky pair? Just make sure
your tassel doesn’t get caught. OUCH!
7. Iron the gown. There is nothing worse
than a graduate with a gown on that looks
like it was taken out of the shrink wrap
fifteen minutes before the ceremony. Make
10. DON’T GO NAKED. Even though
I was amused that my principal thought I
was naked, I was equally as offended. It
is disrespectful and the gowns are usually
sheer. No one wants their last Marist
memory to involve your bare butt. I
promise.
While Senior Week festivities will
send many into a weeklong coma, it is
advisable not to be hung-over the morning
of graduation. Graduation photos could
potentially haunt you for the rest of your
life (dun-du-dun!) and you don’t want to
look like a slob. Furthermore, you will
be in an excessively warm environment
where it will be difficult to escape to the
bathroom. A few celebratory drinks will
be in order, but try not to look like you’re
going to pass out the next day. Dressing
up, not throwing up is the goal.
1. Be comfortable. Graduation is held on
the green on what will most likely be the
hottest day thus far. Lightweight fabrics
like cotton and linen are great for sticky,
humid days.
2. Confidence is Key. If you don’t feel good
in what you’re wearing, you won’t have
a good time. Period. This is a standard
for every day, but on milestone days like
CreativeCommons.org/BdwayDiva1
26
Rediscovering the “Wheel”:
US Passes Healthcare Reform
27
I recently took the time to catch up with
a friend of mine from Italy, named Rosario.
We spoke for some time, just arbitrary
stuff, like “How are you’s?” and things
like that. The conversation came turned, of
course, to the subject that has been the bane
of my existence this semester: Obama’s
Healthcare Reform. What Rosario said
really shocked me: “To the Italians and
the rest of the world, Obama’s plan makes
America look like it just discovered fire,
or the wheel.” This was startling; we think
of ourselves as a dominant power in the
world, and to have other nations look down
upon us scared me. Rosario then prompted
me as to what the bill entailed and I had
no idea. Finally, it had been passed and
it’s high time I stopped speculating and
actually tell you all what’s in this thing so
we can understand what it means!
“Tonight we proved that this government
still works for the people”. Our President,
Barack Obama, said this strong statement
after the passing of the U.S. Health Reform
Act on March 21, 2010. Now, 50 million
Americans without health insurance are
guaranteed coverage. No one can be denied
insurance based on preexisting conditions
like cancer, and the public option will
be available to those who cannot afford
a private one. After much research and a
little (or rather a lot) of reading, I’ll give
you a timeline of “who will be doing what
and when” to help all of us sort through this
historic mess.
First thing is first: cost. Over the next ten
years the bill will total $350 billion. Profit
margins have been restricted to 3% and a
maximum of 6% annually. Republicans
retort that this bill has gone on without
them, without their support and thusly the
silent minority has been silenced. They fear
that capping profits, limiting competition
and telling CEO’s of insurance companies
what they can and cannot do will make the
US healthcare quality go down. Many are
hoping it will not, but we must wait and see.
The top 2% tax brackets are the ones who
will directly be paying for Obamacare. If
you or your parents make above $250,000
per year, Uncle Sam will be increasing
your income tax by 6%. This is pseudosocialism: many are scared of this as a
“redistribution of wealth” but it is rather
seen as just a tax increase, not a socialistic
intervention.
In 2010, uninsured persons will be
placed into a “high risk” pool if they have
a preexisting condition. This way, they will
still receive coverage but they will be an
understood liability. Children can remain
on parental health insurance until age
26. This means that all of you graduating
seniors can hide behind your parents for a
little while longer.
In 2011, insurers will be required to
spend 80%, and not a percentage point less
on medical procedures and medical care.
This signifies the shift on our healthcare
system from a “for profit” model to one of
“preventative care”; the crux of Rosario’s
wheel analogy. Those with Medicare will
receive a 50% discount on prescription
drugs to offset multi-billon dollar cuts from
the program.
The next benchmark is in 2013, where
Medicare payroll taxes will increase
and expand to those individuals making
over $200,000 and families making over
$250,000. Sorry to those of you who make
that much!
By 2013, all those without insurance
will have to pay an undisclosed penalty.
By Tommy Straub
Those earning up to four times the national
poverty level (up to $88,000) , will be
offered a state tax refund to be used in state
sponsored health care provider exchanges.
This means that should you happen to be
in poverty, you will still be provided for,
at a rate much cheaper than those private
insurers. However, many speculate on
quality of care in these programs.
The final benefit comes in 2020, where
all Medicare beneficiaries will have equal
access to drugs, whereas before there was
levels of differentiated drug coverage. This
article has been chock full of numbers,
and after all this bill is a numbers game.
Who pays for what when is the question
on all of our minds. Many also ask why
the bill isn’t going to be implemented
“all at once”. Fast implementation would
cause a sudden influx of patients to our
system, making doctors overload their
practices and sacrificing care for quantity.
After my months of speculation, I hope
that this little excerpted timeline serves
you well. The Constitutionality and actual
implementation, or what will occur “off
paper” is just as much a mystery to you as
it is to me. Here’s hoping we don’t burn
ourselves with our newly discovered fire!
CreativeCommons.org/borman818
The Culture of the Sneeze
By Sarah Lamond
Imagine you are on
a crowded train. You
have been on this train
for two hours. The car
is completely filled with
all types of people and
all types of interesting
conversations, but you are
not paying attention to any
of them. You are reading a
book that is growing more
and more fascinating by
the second. You have not
glanced up from the pages;
the plot is at its climax.
Subconsciously, you are
certain that it would take a
particularly extraordinary
incident to wrench your
attention away from this
book. The person sitting
next to you (who you
have not paid one ounce
of attention to since you
both boarded at the station)
is on her laptop engrossed in a paper she
is writing. As the main character in your
novel is slaying the enemy, or saving the
day (or any other climactic event that
is destined to happen), your neighbor
sneezes. Politely, you glance up from your
book and say “God bless you.”
The conversation occurring behind you
about a raunchy spring break incident did
not grab your attention. The heated debate
a few rows ahead of you over healthcare
reform did not grab your attention. The
cute girl/guy sitting across the aisle that
keeps looking over at you did not grab
your attention. But a simple, involuntary,
biological reaction from your neighbor is
enough to warrant more than just a glance
up from your exciting novel; it was enough
to warrant the first sentence you have
spoken in over two hours.
Why do we do this? If your neighbor
coughed or hiccupped you probably
would not have said anything. But she
sneezed, and that was all it took for you
to pay attention to something other than
your book. As a culture, we engage in this
custom all the time. We will say “bless
you” to an individual sitting next to us in
class that we have never spoken to before.
We will say it to a good friend who is in the
CreativeCommons.org/bionicteaching
middle of telling an enticing and dramatic
story. We may even say it to a complete
stranger sitting behind us in a movie
theater. It is second nature to do so.
So where did this custom stem from?
There are several theories that attempt to
explain where this bizarre courtesy has
originated. The tradition undoubtedly
started in ancient times. People may have
believed that a sneeze was an indication
that the human soul was trying to escape
its body, and thus blessing them would
prevent demons from taking advantage
of the vulnerable soul. Others believed
the opposite: that a sneeze was the body’s
attempt at expelling a demon, and therefore
saying “bless you” would ward the demon
off from entering the body again. Some
people believed that the heart stops beating
during a sneeze. During the medieval
times (and during the era of the bubonic
plague), a sneeze was seen as an indication
of an impending death, and so blessing the
sneezer ensures a peaceful entrance to the
afterlife.
But modern-day medicine explains that
a sneeze is simply the body’s involuntary
way of reacting to foreign particles that
have disrupted the nasal passage. Pollen,
dust, and pet fur are typical causes of
sneezing, but sneezing can also be triggered
by sunlight or in rare cases, a full stomach.
So when you think about it, saying “bless
you” is pretty weird.
Yet all cultures have some sort of
social response to sneezing. For example,
the Germans say “gesundheit” which
literally means “health.” Spanish speaking
nations say “salud” which also means
“health.” Arabic speaking nations utter
“Alhamdulillah” which means “praise be
to God,” and China says “bai sui” which
means “may you live 100 years.” So in a
sense, no matter where you are, a sneeze
warrants this type of reaction.
Now imagine you have never really
thought about this before. You are sitting on
that same crowded train, and this time, you
are the one that sneezes. But your neighbor
does not even glance up from her laptop.
You would probably think she is rude for
not acknowledging your body’s reflexive
response to the dust particles in the air. This
is how ingrained this archaic concept is in
our culture. The superstitious belief of our
naïve ancestors has been passed down as a
courtesy through centuries. Sometimes, we
don’t even realize we are saying it. Next
time a stranger sneezes, try not saying
anything. It’s harder than you think, even
if it is a silly custom.
28
Confessions of a Burn Out:
How I wasted two semesters smoking weed
*image of Anna Farris in Smiley Face taken from http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/image08/smileyface2.jpg
29
I’m venturing to guess that with
the ending of this school year, most
Marist students will look back on the
last eight or so months, and with a sigh
of relief, congratulate themselves for
making it through, for balancing all
of the responsibilities that come with
being a young adult, a student, a friend,
a relative, a significant other, and feel
even more competent with their ability
to not only survive the great amount of
stress that results from taking on such
a variety of roles, but to thrive in spite
of them. I as well reflect on my school
year and acknowledge a resilience,
but one that is not to be proud of. The
reason I can’t believe I’ve survived
the last two semesters is this: despite
deep depression, smoking pot nearly
every day, and seeking no professional
help, I have maintained my grades
and so far have avoided any serious
repercussions—in other words—I can’t
believe I’m not yet a total fuck-up.
If my mother only knew that the
weekly deposits she’s been making into
my bank account for food were instead
spent almost entirely on weed…well, I
don’t even want to think about it. My
mom is fervently convinced that weed is
the gateway drug to becoming a crackhead of Whitney Houston proportions.
Often she has told me how incredibly
disappointed she would be if I were to
ever try drugs. But at times it seems
as if her concern has less to do with
drugs compromising my well being
than the possibility of drugs impeding
my ability to produce grandchildren.
I’ve desperately tried to make her
understand that my sperm production
is not a topic I am now or ever willing
to discuss with her, but she none-theless feels obliged to remind me of the
detrimental effects marijuana can have
on male fertility. My mother has never
tried smoking pot, and claims that she
has never had the urge to. One time she
told me a story about when she was
seventeen and dating my dad. They
were driving to my grandparents’ cabin
in the woods when my dad pulled a
joint out of his pocket, lit it, and passed
it to her.
My mother, bless her heart, quickly
rolled down the window and threw it
out (I can imagine my dad with his
trademark deadpan face saying “fair
enough!”). Although I sometimes wish
my mother had more of a tolerance for
alcohol on the rare occasions that she
does drink (one time in New Orleans,
after three sips of her Pat O’Briens
Hurricane, I had to lead her by one
hand back to the hotel while she pet
the plants we passed with her other
hand, enthusiastically remarking on the
softness of their touch), I’m glad that
she abstains from marijuana and all
total buzz-kill. Perhaps
they viewed what I
was telling them as a
result of my tendency
to over-exaggerate, but
the only suggestion
they
could
make
was for me to seek
counseling
through
health-services.
I’d
thought about making
an appointment, but I
never got around to it.
I was too scared, but I
made myself believe
it was because I didn’t
have the time.
I realized just how
pathetic I’d become
from my housemates—
eight
seemingly
nice guys that I
unfortunately
never
got
to
know,
probably
CreativeCommons.org/D.C. Atty
because I was always
stoned. They would
other drugs for that matter. It’s strange
to me that some people think it’s cool come back late on weekend nights from
that their parents get high; even stranger various social events to find me sitting
is when these people profess to having inches away from the TV, watching
infomercials while mindlessly eating
smoked with their parents.
There came a point when I an entire pie from Giacamo’s—the
recognized how great of a disservice same position I’d been in since early
smoking weed had done for me. It that afternoon. Standing on my Foy
certainly has not helped in reducing my balcony and watching my healthy,
depression and has largely contributed, exuberant looking peers walking their
I believe, to my overall lack of zest way to and from Gartland was like
for…well…life. But even after coming looking into a mirror that reflected
to the realization that smoking pot was how miserable and unhealthy I was in
not something I did just to make Alice comparison. One time as I was about
in Wonderland 3D trippy-er than even to leave, a housemate walked through
Tim Burton intended it to be, that I was the front door noticeably sweaty from
indeed smoking to escape from coping working out at the gym. “What’s it
with my problems, I still could not like?” I accidentally asked him out
manage to quit cold-turkey (and before loud. “What’s what like?” he asked.
you say to yourself “but marijuana isn’t “Exercise,” I jokingly replied. What I
addictive!” let me tell you as someone really meant to ask was much more.
This semester I took a course in
with high impulsivity and little selfAdolescent Psychology because of
control, it most certainly can be).
Not being able to confide in my my great admiration for the professor
Nancy Reagan of a mother about my teaching it. The professor I am
problem, I turned to my friends, but referring to is a clinical psychologist
because they too smoked pot and were who specializes in adolescent drug
not experiencing the same turmoil as rehabilitation. After her many years
a result of it, they treated me like a of running a residential treatment
center for teens with substance abuse
problems, she is quick to speak of
her detest for marijuana—a drug she
rightfully believes is too often looked
upon as innocuous by its users. It’s not
difficult persuading substance abusers
to think negatively of the drugs that
they identify with as the direct cause
of problematic effects and behavior;
more difficult is convincing them to
give up marijuana, which most people
tend to see their use of as manageable.
I know all too many people who
would vehemently defend marijuana
as serving only to increase their
enjoyment of things—sex, food, funny
videos of cats on YouTube—but when
you start using marijuana as I have—
not to enhance enjoyment, but rather as
a desperate attempt to sustain it—even
arbitrary stuff like taking a shower
becomes an opportune occasion to get
high.
I share my story not as a cautionary
tale (because in my opinion those
are worst kinds of tales), but in the
hope that it will encourage people in
similar situations as me, to seek help,
to realize that despite the funny and
light-hearted portrayals of pot-heads
in popular movies such as Dazed and
Confused, actually being one is in no
way a laughing matter. I look forward
to a summer of sobriety, to confronting
the cry for help that my daily marijuana
habit represents, and hopefully, to
returning to Marist next semester, not
as a passive, drugged-up observer, but
as an active participant in all that the
school, and youth, has to offer.
CreativeCommons.org/Torben Bjorn Hansen
30
Top 10 Dr. Murray Myths
10. Dr. Murray’s mother has a tattoo on her bicep of
a heart that says “son” in it.
9. Dr. Murray plans to increase tuition next
semester in order to fund a Marist Mt. Rushmore
opposite the river front, featuring himself, Bob
Lynch, Deb DiCaprio, and Art Himmelberger.
8. Contractors proposed to Dr. Murray to tear down
the McCann Center due to lack of attendance, that
night James Earl Jones visited campus and said,
“People will come Dennis, People will come.” The
Women’s team then sold out Pack the House Night.
7. You remember all those cute kittens that used
to wander around outside Sheehan Hall… Yea Dr.
Murray hates Kittens.
6. On the seventh day, Dr. Murray did not rest; he
tore down Benoit and Gregory with his bare hands.
5. Dr. Murray started the myth that a student will
fail out of Marist if he steps on the seal on the floor
of the rotunda because that is where he proposed to
his wife, Marilyn, and nobody steals Dr. Murray’s
proposal idea.
4. Dr. Murray created Brian Giorgis in the Donnelly
Chemistry lab and had him coach 19 years at
Lourdes High School before coming to Marist
because Siena administration was snooping around.
3. Dr. Murray called the faculty retreat on 4/20
so he and the teachers could hot box the Fontaine
Annex.
2. Dr. Murray beat Korey Bauer by statue-of-liberty
dunking over him in a game of one on one last
winter.
1. Dr. Murray was selected along with Dr. Dre and
Gene Simmons to appear in the new Dr. Pepper
commercial campaign. At the open house speech
he says, “These will be the greatest four years of
your life.” {cracks a Dr. Pepper} “Trust me, I’m a
Doctor.”
Photos Contributed by Amy Wheeler